


Immovable Objects

by bellatemple



Series: Troubled lands [1]
Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-19 03:43:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22004662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellatemple/pseuds/bellatemple
Summary: A short rewrite of the end of season 5A. In the face of Duke exploding, Audrey does what she does best.
Series: Troubled lands [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622371
Comments: 13
Kudos: 30





	Immovable Objects

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm in the midst of a larger (so much larger) project that's fighting me just now. So why not throw together a quick fix-it?

"I didn't think this would happen." 

Audrey didn't spare Charlotte a glance. She couldn't tear her eyes off Duke. He wobbled on his feet as though the aether coating his eyes had stolen his balance too. His breath hitched through his clenched jaw, a last ditch effort to hold back what had to be a flood of panic. 

Charlotte had known this could happen, had deemed it a better option than allowing Mara into the Void. She knew about aether, about what it could do, and she'd still chosen Audrey over her own daughter. She may not have predicted this, but she'd allowed it. She'd weighed this risk and called it worth taking. And now she fell back: one step, two. She'd set this in motion, then retreated. 

Nathan knew nothing. He'd had only the vaguest notion of what a "trouble bomb" could be, what it could do. He'd trusted Charlotte with both Duke's life and Audrey's; it was the only thing he could do. Charlotte had saved Audrey, but she'd failed Duke. And Nathan being Nathan, he would blame himself for this. For being relieved that, whatever happened next, he would at least still have Audrey, healthy and whole. And so he froze, unable to leave her now, even as the person he'd known longest in this world, a man Audrey knew he loved, though he was too stubborn to admit it, fell apart in front of him. 

And Audrey. Audrey, who was no one but _herself_ for the first time she could remember. Who'd been measured by Mara's mother and found the most worthy, who was finally, undeniably _real_ , even to herself. She broke into a run. Because there was one thing Audrey Parker knew about herself, even when everything else was in doubt: she _helped people_. And Duke needed her now more than anyone else ever had. 

She reached him just as he began to shake. Her hands fluttered for a moment, helpless with indecision, until she heard a small, pained whine from the back of his throat, just audible over the strange, shuddering insect noise of the aether inside him. She acted on instinct, wrapping her arms around his ribs. His body was rigid beneath her, more tense than she'd ever felt before, strained and quivering as though at any moment it would snap — 

"Audrey!" It was the same tone Audrey imagined Charlotte used for Mara, all those centuries ago: stern and terrified. Commanding. Audrey did the same thing Mara would have; she ignored her. 

"Parker?" Nathan's tone was no less scared, but Audrey knew it was for _both_ of them. She hoped Duke could hear that, too, if he was aware of anything at all at this point. His eyes were wide and unblinking, black as volcanic glass, his jaw locked tight into a grimace. He let out another of those tiny sounds of distress as he jerked in her grip, and she hung on tighter. 

"I have to try," she said, as much to Duke as to Nathan. "It is _not_ going to end like this!" 

Duke's head snapped back and then forward again, his chin knocking hard enough into Audrey's forehead that she saw stars, and she nearly lost her grip. When she blinked clear again, Nathan was behind Duke, bracing him with his body, his forearm wrapped over Duke's collarbone. 

" _We_ have to try," he said as Audrey gaped at him. The relief would have made her knees weak if they weren't locked down hard in the face of Duke's standing seizure. 

It seemed to go on for ages, waning into trembles at times only to burst back into spasms that rocked both Audrey and Nathan on their feet. Duke continued to grunt and whimper softly behind that empty expression, each sound more painful than the last. Audrey could feel the aether in him, buzzing beneath his skin, slamming into the barriers of his being, demanding to be let loose. And Duke, who'd spent his entire life fighting, who never wanted anything more than to live on his own terms, he refused to cave. He was fighting back with every atom in his body. 

The aether would rip him to shreds. 

"It's okay," Audrey said, as soothing as she could be while dodging Duke's flailing arm. Nathan made a pained noise of his own. Audrey wondered wildly if he could somehow feel all of this, then realized he hurt _for_ them. For Duke's doomed struggle. For Audrey's desparte optimism. Audrey found his hand against Duke's chest and gave it a squeeze. "It's _okay_ , Duke. We've got you. Let it out." She choked on a wild sob. "You won't hurt anyone. I won't let you." 

Duke's head snapped back again, his whole spine curving with the force, until Nathan wasn't so much behind him anymore as under him, holding him up. Nathan buried his face in Duke's shoulder. Audrey reached up, cupping her hand to Duke's jaw just as the aether finally broke free. It streamed skyward hard and fast enough to make Nathan stagger, pouring forth from Duke's wide, unseeing eyes. About ten feet up it spread out — and then curled down, surrounding the three of them in a dense, spherical swarm. It could go no further. 

Audrey wouldn't let it. 

She broke into a sweat as more and more aether — more and more _troubles_ kept coming, each bug-like smear semi-autonomous and housing a singular purpose: go forth and _infect_. They struggled and swarmed against the barrier of her intent, buzzing and burning as they went. Duke had been feeling this pressure for weeks already, had routinely held it all back and down even when the pain got so bad he'd pass out. He had no training, no aether experience, just sheer, unadulterated willpower and a desperate refusal to do more damage, cause more pain. Audrey could only hope to live up to his example. 

"Audrey!" Charlotte shouted again, no longer stern, though clearly still terrified. "What can I do?!" 

"I don't know!" Audrey felt a sharp sting against her cheek. A trouble. She was troubled now. They had to go somewhere, and denied the room to spread, they turned on the people in the center of their cloud. She saw them hit Nathan in the arm, Duke in the throat, though neither of them reacted. If she didn't think of something fast, all three of them would end up walking trouble factories like Duke had been. 

"You have to send it somewhere!" Charlotte said. Audrey grimaced as another trouble hit her, this one in the lower back. No shit, Charlotte. She was open to suggestions. 

"The Void," Nathan said. 

"We're too far from a thinny," Charlotte answered. "It'll take time to open a new one." 

"I can't hold them that long." Audrey's voice came out tight, just short of a sob. She'd promised Duke they wouldn't hurt anyone, but Haven was still going to end up troubled. There was nothing she could do. 

Mara had won. 

"Parker," Nathan said. He sounded impossibly calm. She tore her gaze from the trouble swarm and saw him staring at her past Duke's shoulder. A trouble slammed into his face and he didn't flinch, though he had to have seen it coming. He held her gaze and squeezed her hand and smiled. 

She knew what she had to do. 

"I"m sorry," she said. Nathan's eyes went wide. Audrey wrapped her arms around him and Duke both, pressing her face into Duke's chest, and directed the aether _down_. 

Troubles pelted them like hail. Audrey knew she took the brunt of it, stretched over them as she was, but still, Duke and Nathan had to be hit by dozens each. That was nothing compared to the hundreds that rained down, though, stabbing into and _through_ the dirt. Into the land itself. 

The stream from Duke's eyes ran abruptly dry. Nathan grunted as Duke went limp, pitching all three of them to the ground. They lay in a heap, Nathan on the bottom, Audrey on top, Duke sandwiched unconscious between them. Audrey shifted enough not to be crushing them but otherwise refused to let go. She could hear Duke's heartbeat beneath her ear; she was afraid if she moved away it would stop. 

"Audrey." Charlotte rushed forward now that the immediate danger had passed, eyes flicking over Audrey before almost reluctantly sliding over to Nathan and Duke. Nathan wormed his way out from beneath Duke and leaned over him, listening for his shallow breaths. "What did you do?" 

"I troubled Haven." Audrey sat up and immediately fell back, the world spinning around her. She dug her fingers into the scrubby grass to steady herself. Was it her, or was the grass bluer than usual? 

"You troubled _yourself_ ," Charlotte scolded. "You could have been killed!" 

"Coulda," Nathan said. He had his hand pressed firmly to Duke's chest, watching it rise and fall. "Didn't." 

Audrey flashed him a manic grin, then looked up at Charlotte. "Guess you'd better work on that cure now, huh, Mom." 

Charlotte gaped at her. Audrey felt a laugh bubble up in her chest. Duke was alive, Nathan was conscious, and she, Audrey Parker, was _whole_. 

The land itself could rise up against them — and probably would, let's be real — but so long as those things were true, Audrey knew they could take on anything.


End file.
